If it's not your default browser, have you at least tried it? Granted, you need to be using Windows 10 to use Edge, but the number of computer owners who have upgraded to Windows 10 is substantial and growing. Users of Firefox or Chrome who depend on browser extensions such as LastPass, AdBlock Plus, or any of the hundreds of add-ons available for those browsers will find Edge wanting when it comes to extensions.
Near the end of 2015, Microsoft finally began to hint about when we might expect to see some extensions. "Sometime in 2016." Developers want Edge to be capable of delivering a personalized web experience, so extensions are a high priority. But so is security. Developers are working on a secure extension model to make Edge safe and reliable.
The difficulty of accomplishing this is clear to Firefox users. Starting with Firefox 41 (the current version is 44), Mozilla began blocking all unsigned extensions to eliminate malicious scripts. The problem is that numerous extensions no longer work. These include Mozilla's own Nightly Tester Tools, Skype, a variety of add-ons that are useful to website developers, and (for a while) most plug-ins created by anti-virus application developers.
Edge does have some advantages, though. For one thing, it's fast. That's a big change from Internet Explorer, which wasn't fast. Edge is faster than Firefox and Chrome according to the on-line browser evaluation services. The difference is minimal, but it's there. Edge is still lagging a bit when it comes to supporting HTML5 features.
The Reading View is handy, but flawed. The TechByter Worldwide page is fairly busy and you might like a version that doesn't have so many distracting elements. Click the Reading View icon and you'll get a more straightforward page.
I say that it's flawed because sometimes images from articles near the end of the page are displayed near the top of the page. The TechByter site's function that displays larger versions of small images that are embedded in the text causes problems for the Reading View and, after you close one of the larger images, the Reading View will take you back to the top of the page. Sidebars may not be included at all. Still, if you're looking for just the text from the main article, this is a handy feature.
Browsers such as Firefox can use plug-ins like Pocket that allow you to capture information about an article that you want to read later. This functionality is built in to Edge. Just click the Favorites icon, switch to Reading List, and click Add.
Microsoft is really serious about security these days. Internet Explorer was a primary target for malware-writing creeps, so Microsoft has added protections that separate the operating system from Edge. If you click a malware link, the system is supposed to protect your computer. That said, it's important to note that malware-writing creeps may be creeps, but they're not stupid. You can be sure that they will be looking for ways to exploit Edge and they'll probably find some.
The New Tab page is also another good feature that seems to need some work. You can turn the New Tab page off or customize it to a limited extent. The New Tab page shows top sites as Internet Explorer did and adds app suggestions, weather, sports scores, and videos. There's no address bar, but you can type a URL into the search box and then you'll see the address bar. You can eliminate icons for URLs you don't want, but I haven't yet found a way to add URLs, something that's easy to do with other browsers.
Once you've navigated to a page, the URL will appear where you expect it.
One of the most significant improvements Edge brings is the ability to annotate pages. This is more relevant for tablet users, but it works even if all you have to write with is a mouse. Edge lets you mark up web pages with a highlighter or drawing tool and then share them as an image file via e-mail or social apps. This feature isn't yet available in Firefox or Chrome.
Bing is Microsoft's default search engine and they'd really like it if you would stop using Google and start using Bing. Is Bing better than Google?
If you're running Windows 10, it might be. And if you're not running Windows 10, it might be. One reason to use Bing is this: Bing pays you. Not a lot, admittedly, but it's more than Google pays, which is nothing.
This is a feature of Bing Rewards. Searching earns points for you and you can redeem the points for coupons. For example, if you have about 500 credits, Microsoft will pay for $5 worth of stuff at Amazon or Starbucks or several other merchants. You can earn half a credit per search, up to 30 searches per day (15 credits). Like I said, it's not much.
Use Bing all the time and you can earn silver or gold status, which gives extra discounts.
But does Bing really work? No matter how much you might earn for conducting searches, it's not a winning proposition if the searches aren't any good. I tried searching for my name on both services, thinking that I should get some hits for my name, possible for TechByter, and definitely for Blinn College in Texas.
Google's Search
Bing's SearchIs one set of results better than the other? There are differences, certainly, but both of them seem useful.
Maybe you're looking for a picture you can use. Coffee beans, for example. I was and you'll see why next week. Both of the search engines returned a good selection of images and both had options for selecting images that would be available for re-use without a royalty payment. This is what Bing brought me.
And this is from Google.
Looks like a dead heat to me.
America OnLine might be going away. The name, that is. The service will continue, but it could have another name. Verizon paid $4.4 billion to acquire AOL last year and chief marketing officer Allie Kline says the name could be changing. I couldn't help but think about when a high-flying AOL bought Time-Warner. The merger was considered to be an intelligent move at the time. AOL was signing up users right and left. But then people learned that they didn't have to stick with slow dial-up connections and AOL's training wheels.
Then AOL subscribers started defecting in droves. There are still some people who use AOL. About 2.3 million of them, in fact. That's down from about 26 million in 2002 and AOL loses another half million or so users every year.
Along the way, Time dumped AOL and most people probably still think of AOL as the company that sent out millions of floppy disks and, later, CDs. As the "You've got mail!" company. And maybe as the company that dumped newbies by the million onto the Internet.
Kline told Business Insider that the name has a lot of legacy and meaning. "Legacy and meaning" could also be termed "baggage". AOL, in fact, owns some popular services such as MapQuest The Huffington Post. It's not just modems, slow connections, and e-mail.
After acquiring AOL last year, mainly to obtain AOL's advertising platform on both mobile and broadband networks, Verizon launched a mobile video service called Go90. The video service is supported by ads and offers some TV shows and original work.
Reports are that AOL's marketing staff is about evenly split on whether a new name is needed or not.
People in large groups can be intelligent. If you show a jar of jelly beans to 1000 people, ask them to guess how many jelly beans are in the jar, and average the answers, the result will be very close to the actual number.
I proved this to myself recently with a much smaller group. About 50 people were asked to observe a pumpkin and guess its weight. The range of answers was relatively large, but the average was within 3 pounds of the exact weight of the pumpkin, about 55 pounds.
That's the logic that's used for crowd-sourced answers and a new operation is in the process of being spun up. The URL is clever: yes.no. The .no top level domain is for Norway, but the organization running the site is in Israel.
It's being called a "Q&A social network" that's intended to enable crowd interviews with public figures and celebrities. Apparently the idea is that all of us together will be able to think of better questions than any of us could do individually.
Co-founder and CEO Assaf Levy says that the primary difference from other sites is that yes.no doesn't involve questions that are asked to the community, but questions from the community that are addressed to specific users.
Levy says that celebrities use social media to engage with their fans, but there's no existing platform designed around the concept of answering questions. The new service will enable "meaningful interactions" according to Levy. An up-voting feature allows users to support the questions they want answered. "This is crowd interviewing and we want the people to be heard."
The site is operational now in 11 languages, including English, Spanish, Hebrew, German, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Russian. By the end of the first quarter, it's expected to be operational in 40 countries and 30 languages. Visit yes.no here.
Two mobile applications that are intended to help people identify beers and wines they'll like (and help them to find them) are merging. Untappd and Next Glass say that merging their "science-based alcohol software" will create a "powerhouse combination that will provide an unparalleled beer experience."
Software developed by Next Glass uses scientific methodology and machine learning to deliver personalized recommendations to consumers and to breweries, wineries, and retailers. The company has analyzed the chemistry of tens of thousands of bottles of wine and beer. The information (they call it "DNA") has been stored in its "Genome Cellar" database. [Link to Next Glass]
Untappd is a popular mobile app that allows users to share a brew (virtually) with a friend who's on-line. It's designed to let you know what your friends are drinking and where. [Link to Untappd]
Untappd co-founder and chief technical officer Greg Avola says the merger will allow continued growth while maintaining the Untappd brand without making changes that might rattle the user community.
Next Glass founder and CEO Kurt Taylor says that the merger gives Untappd users access to data from Next Glass. The merger, he says, will create a powerful combination that will provide consumers and businesses around the world ways to share, socialize, and learn about beer.
Cheers!
Does your dog forget to go to the vet? Or maybe your cat has been gaining weight lately and refuses to exercise. Bayer, the aspirin company, has released an app that people who are owned by pets can use to manage health-care and vet appointments.
Users set up profiles for their pets and the application can send reminders about immunizations and other medications needed by the pets. Oh, by the way, Bayer markets numerous products for pets such as Advantix, Advantage, and Seresto (flea control) and ZelNate for farm animals. Bayer positions it as "not a vaccine and not an antibiotic." This might raise questions about what exactly it is, but I digress.
The application, Pet Life, is available for IOS, Kindle Fire, and Android devices.
The app maintains the pet's vital information and sends reminders when treatments and appointments are due. Because most pets and farm animals don't have e-mail accounts, the alerts are sent to humans.
The Pet Life app isn't just for cats and dogs. People who are owned by ferrets and rabbits can use it, too. Users can store information about a pet's vet appointments and treatments, pet health insurance renewals and birthdays, the pet's weight, notes, links to a veterinary practice for quick access, and information about a pet's microchip information
The app is available the Apple and Android stores.
